Lawn mower edger attachment



Sept. 5, 1950 Filed Feb. 4, 1949 R. A BELL 2,521,033

LAWN MOWER EDGER ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Row/and A Bell B, @zwaofizn.

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Sept. 5, 1950, R. A. BELL 2,521,033

LAWN MOWER EDGER ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 4, 1949.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Raw/and A Bell 2mm WWW mm Patented Sept. 5, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to an attachment for a power driven lawn mower and has for its primary object to enable the lawn mower to uniformly and easily trim or cut the edge of a lawn or the trench adjacent a sidewalk.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an edge trimming attachment for a lawn mower which is easily and conveniently secured to a standard power lawn mower or the like and which may be conveniently raised to an inoperative position or lowered to an operative cutting position.

A further important object of this invention is to provide a guide means for the edge trimming attachment and to provide a shield structure therefor to prevent injury to the operator or damage to the mower structure due to debris or a stone tossed rearwardly by the edge cutting blade.

These and ancillary objects and structural features of merit are attained by this invention, preferred embodiments of which are set forth inthe following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a conventional power driven lawn mowing machine, illustrating this invention operatively attached thereto;

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 3-3, looking in the direction of the arrows of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view of the cutting blade and illustrating one embodiment of the guide means associated therewith;

Figure 5 is an enlarged side elevational view thereof, taken substantially on line 55 of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view of the means provided for locking the operating rod for raising and lowering the edge trimming attachment, in a raised or lowered position.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and with particular references to Figures 1-3 thereof, there is shown a standard power driven mowing unit l0 having a frame consisting of opposed side plates I2 and a horizontally disposed motor bed plate i 4, which serves also to space the side plates from each other. Each of the vertically disposed side plates carries a wheel I6 rotatably associated therewith by means of a stub axle. At the rear or trailing edge of the side plates there is revolvably mounted a guide roller I8, which functions to support the rear end of the frame. A guiding handle structure extends rearwardly from the side plates. A prime mover, such as a gasoline engine 22 is mounted on the motor bed plate l4 and a pair of pulleys 24 and 26 are keyed on the extending drive shaft 28 thereof. A belt 30 is entrained around the pulley 26 and serves to drive the cutting wheel of the mowing machine through a drive transmission means 32.

The edge trimming attachment for the lawn mower, generally designated by the character reference 34, is mounted for swivel movement at the front of the motor bed plate by means of supporting arms 36 and 38. The supporting arms 36 and 38 are formed with adjusting slots 40 in which are positioned fastening means 42 engaged in the plate l4. The supporting arms 36 and 38 terminate in extending bearing sleeves 44 and 46 within which is rotatably journaled a shaft 48. The shaft 48 is formed with a head 50 at one end and an externally threaded opposing end 52 on which is threadingly secured a locking nut 54, A frame member 56 is secured at one end on the shaft 48 between the bearing sleeves 44 and 46 and is adapted for pivotal movement thereon. The opposing end of the frame terminates in a sleeve 58 within which is disposed transversely an axle housing or tubular member 60. A shaft 62 is rotatably disposed within the housing 60 and the opposing ends thereof are spaced from the housing by means of bearings 62 and 64.

A V-shaped pulley 66 is fixed to one of the extending ends of the axle or shaft by means of a set screw 68 inserted through the collar 10 of the pulley. A belt 12 operatively connects the pulley 66 with the pulley 24 carried by the drive shaft of the motor.

A cutting blade 14 is secured on the opposing externally threaded end of the axle or shaft by means of a flange nut 16 threadingly engaged on the extending end 18. A guide wheel having an annular peripheral flange 82 is secured on the axle housing, adjacent the cutting blade by means of a coupling collar 84, which is frictionally engaged on the axle housing through the medium of a set screw 86. The space Within the axle housing is adapted to be filled with oil and for that purpose, an externally threaded plug 88 is detachably secured to the wall of the housing.

An arcuate shield 90 is secured about the cutting blade 14 and the guide wheel 80 to prevent stones or the like articles from being tossed up rearwardly towards the mowing machine and the operator. The shield 90 comprises an arcuate wall 92 having opposed side walls 94 and 96, the latter being positioned on op osite sides of the cutting blade, as seen in Figure 3. The shield is secured to the frame member 56 by means of an arm 98 extending laterally from the side wall and secured by fastening members I00 to the frame. The forward or leading edge of the shield is secured to the frame by means of an angular bracket arm I02 extending integrally therefrom and secured as at I00 to the forward edge of the frame.

Means is provided for raising the edge trimming attachment from a horizontal operative position to a vertical inoperative position and preferably comprises an elongated operating rod I06 which is pivotally secured as at I00 to an arm IIO extending upwardly from the frame 56. The operating rod I06 is slidably disposed through a block IIZ carried by an upright standard Ild, which is anchored to the motor bed plate Id. The rod terminates in a transversely disposed handle I ll, whereby the same may be easily moved rearwardly and forwardly to raise and lower the edge trimming attachment.

As seen in Figure 6, locking means H6 is provided for securing the rod and, correspondingly, the edge cutting attachment in an inoperative and operative position. As aforestated, the rod is slidably disposed through a block II2 which is disposed on one side of the standard I It, adjacent the upper edge thereof. A lug I I8 is formed with an enlarged head I20 having a transversely disposed opening I22 formed therein. The rod I06 i slidably disposed through the opening I22, which is adapted for longitudinal alignment with the aligned openings in the block H2. The lu I I0 is transversely disposed through the standard I I4 and terminates in an externally threaded extremity I24 upon which is disposed a locking handle I26. Thus, by rotatin the handle I26, the

lug H0 is moved transversely through the standard IN and the head I20 thereof is moved relative to the standard, so that the rod I06 is locked in the opening I22 thereof by the engagement of the rod against the outer wall of the opening and the inner walls of the openings of the block II2.

It can thus be appreciated that when the edge trimmer is in a lowered position, the shaft or axle 62 will be rotated through the drive belt 12, associated with the motor 22. Rotation of the belt 12 and corresponding rotation of the shaft 62 will effect the desired rotation of the cutting blade 14. The high speed operation of the cutting blade will uniformly and neatly out the grass along borders or flower beds and adjacent the sidewalk. As can be seen, the guide wheel 80 is adapted to rotate along the edge of the sidewalk, with the flange 82 thereof engaged in the outer edge of the sidewalk, adjacent the conventional trench formed between the edge of the sidewalk and the adjacent edge of the lawn. Thus, the guide wheel principally functions to prevent the cutting blade ll from engaging the sidewalk and thereby obviates the possibility of damage or injury being imparted to the blade as a result of such consequent engagement between the blade and sidewalk.

iii

Rearward sliding movement of the operating rod I06 to the handle H6 will cause the edge trimming attachment to be raised to a vertical position, as seen in Figure 1. The rod can be locked, by means of the locking means, illustrated in Figure 6, so that the edge trimming attachment is in a raised position. When the attachment is in a raised position, the blade will be sustained in a non-rotative position, due to the slack of the drive belt 12. Thus, though the motor is employed and the shaft is rotated to rotate the drive ulley 26 and necessarily the pulley 24, the edge trimmer attachment will be sustained free from rotation, due to the slack of the side belt '82. Of course, the shield is rigidly mounted above the cutting blade and guide wheel, so that the same is at all times positioned over the upper portion of the cutting blade.

A further embodiment of the guide means is illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, wherein the structure illustrated therein is adapted for use, when the edge trimming attachment is employed for trimming the grass along fiower beds, borders or the like. In the latter respect, a vertically disposed guide arm IZs is held in a rigid detachable position by means of a laterally disposed collar I30, which is secured by a fastening member I32 concentrically on the ends of the axial housing. The guide or spacing arm H0 is adapted to depend vertically from the axle housing and to space the cutting blade 70 from engagement with the edge of the sidewalk or border I35 of a flower garden. Of course, the shield structure and other structure for operating the cutting blade and for raising and lowering the blade and appurtenant structure is the same as illustrated with respect to the other embodiment.

It can thus be seen that the lawn mower edger attachment can be easily and conveniently attached to a standard power lawn mower and with minor variations can be adapted for attachment to any of the standard types of mowers. Thus, the supporting arms 36 and 30, bymeans of the slots 40 will enable the frame 56 and the axle housing and axle to be attached to any of the standard types of mowers.

Once the attachment has been secured to a mower, it will not be necessar to remove the same, since it can be easily raised to an inoperative position and lowered to an operative position, when it is desired to employ the same.

Inasmuch as certain changes can be carried out in various details of structure and operation of the device, it is to be understood that these changes may be effected as coming within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In combination with a power driven lawn mower having a frame and a motor mounted thereon, an edge trimming attachment comprising a support pivotally mounted for vertical swinging movement on the mower frame, an elongated sleeve transversely carried by the support, a shaft rotatably journaled in the sleeve, a cutting blade detachably fixed on one end of the shaft, a guide wheel having a peripheral flange rotatably journaled on the sleeve adjacent to the blade, means connected between the other end of the shaft and the motor for rotating the shaft.

2. In combination with a power driven lawn mower having a frame and a motor mounted thereon, an edge trimming attachment comprising a support pivotally mounted for vertical swinging movement on the mower frame, an elongated sleeve transversely carried by the support, a shaft rotatably journaled in the sleeve, 9. cutting blade detachably fixed on one end of the shaft, a guide wheel having a peripheral flange rotatably journaled on the sleeve adjacent to the blade, means connected between the other end of the shaft and the motor for rotating the shaft, and means for raising said frame about its pivot including an arm projecting upwardly from the support, a rod pivotally connected at one end to the arm and extending rearwardly and means for locking the rod to the frame.

3. In combination with a power driven lawn mower having a frame and a motor mounted thereon, an edge trimming attachment comprising a support pivotaliy mounted for vertical swinging movement on the mower frame, an elongated sleeve transversely carried by the support, a shaft rotatably journaled in the sleeve, a cutting blade detachably fixed on one end of the shaft, a guide wheel having a peripheral flange rotatably journaled on the sleeve adjacent to the blade, means connected between the other end of the shaft and the motor for rotating the shaft, a shield overlyin the blade and a support arm secured to the shield and mounted on the frame.

4. In combination with a power driven lawn mower, having a portable frame and a motor mounted thereon, an edge trimming attachment comprising a pair of parallel arms projecting from the frame and adjustably mounted thereon, a frame pivoted at its inner end to the arms, a sleeve transversely carried by the outer end of the frame, a shaft rotatably journaled in the sleeve and having its ends projecting from the sleeve, a cutter detachably fixed on one of the ends of the shaft, guide means for the cutter mounted on the sleeve adjacent to the cutter, drive means connected between the other end of the shaft and the motor, means for raising the frame about the pivot and means for looking the frame in adjusted positions.

5. The combination of claim 4, wherein said means for raising and lowering the frame includes an operating rod pivotally associated with the frame, an upright standard secured to the mower frame and said locking means associated with the standard.

6.'The combination of claim 5, wherein said locking means includes a fixed member within which the rod is slidably disposed and a movable member disposed in said fixed member and thro h which the rod is slidably disposed.

ROWLAND A. BELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,054,320 Slatter Feb. 25, 1913 1,238,595 Sundholm Aug. 28, 191'! 1,654,574 Brown Jan. 3, 1928 1,770,434 Schlelcher July 15, 1930 2,148,841 Senior Feb. 28, 1939 2,185,659 Chernow Jan. 2, 1940 2,220,342 Maga Nov. 5, 1940 

